wantonness

wantonness

English

Etymology

From wanton +‎ -ness.

Noun

wantonness (usually uncountable, plural wantonnesses)

1. (uncountable) The state or characteristic of being wanton; recklessness, especially as represented in lascivious or other excessive behavior.
   • c. 1597, William Shakespeare, The Merry Wives of Windsor, Act IV scene ii:

     The spirit of wantonness is, sure, scared out of him: if the devil have him not in fee-simple, with fine and recovery, he will never, I think, in the way of waste, attempt us again.

   • 1897, Bram Stoker, Dracula, ch. 16:

     The sweetness was turned to adamantine, heartless cruelty, and the purity to voluptuous wantonness.

2. (countable, dated) A particular wanton act.
   • 1882, John Gorham Palfrey, History of New England during the Stuart Dynasty, Little Brown (Boston), v. 3, p. 366:

     These were simply the wantonnesses of a dishonest man.